


How Much of You I Could Let In

by lookingforthestars



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, Misunderstandings, Neighbors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:13:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26869465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookingforthestars/pseuds/lookingforthestars
Summary: Gert has a massive crush on her neighbor, which is fine, because nothing will ever happen. At least until he does something crazy like actually talk to her.
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes
Comments: 11
Kudos: 55





	How Much of You I Could Let In

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been wanting to write another fic for a while and had major writer’s block. Seriously, I started and abandoned like six stories. This one still took a bunch of stopping and starting to write, so I really hope you enjoy it.

Seeing him was the worst part of her day.

It was the smile. He would walk around the corner and flash her that stupid charming smile on his stupid beautiful face and it was a wonder that Gert didn’t melt right into the floor.

She hated that feeling. She hated that some dumb guy could reduce her to mush, especially a dumb guy she didn’t even know and probably never would because she was too much of a coward to actually _talk_ to him.

The only thing she hated more was the sinking disappointment in her stomach when she didn’t see him at all.

Okay, so maybe seeing him was the best part of her day. Wasn’t that still the _worst_?

Gert held her breath as she nudged the door open with her shoulder, rebalancing the grocery bags in her arms. She definitely had not scheduled her grocery run to coincide with the time he left his apartment on Wednesday nights to go to the gym. At least, that’s what she gathered from the duffel bag around his shoulder. Just being observant. It wasn’t like she was stalking him or anything.

He was locking the front door as she stepped into the hallway, and she choked a little on the breath she was holding. It didn’t seem fair that someone with that face and that body should be able to walk among mere mortals like Gert. He should have been in Hollywood or somewhere else where everyone was unreasonably attractive and he couldn’t torture her.

“Oh, hey, let me help you,” he said as soon as he noticed her, and it suddenly occurred to Gert that she’d been standing in place all frozen and slack jawed. He held out his hands, and Gert shook herself out of her daze.

“I can carry them myself, you know,” she muttered, instinctively kicking herself for how petulant she sounded.

He seemed unfazed, just flashing her that grin that made her legs feel weak and taking the bag out of her left arm. “Yeah, I know. But I’d be a jerk if I didn’t offer, right?”

She ducked her head to hide the almost-definitely-fire-engine-red flush in her cheeks and booked it toward her door, her neighbor close behind her. Gert fumbled a bit retrieving her keys from her pocket – because he clearly needed another reason to think she was a spaz – and practically shoved the key into her lock, pushing the door open and motioning for him to follow her inside.

Gert prayed she had tidied up a decent amount, doing a quick scan for anything embarrassing even though it was too late to do anything about it. Nothing stood out, so Gert set the bag on the counter and took a step back as he dropped the other bag next to it. “Thanks.” She cleared her throat a little, forcing herself to make eye contact with him. “Um…”

“Chase.” She raised her eyebrows. “That’s my name. Chase.”

_Chase._ Well, if that didn’t just fit his whole sports bro vibe perfectly. “Cool. Now I can stop always calling you 327 in my head,” Gert said with a nervous laugh, which immediately died out at the smirk on his face. Oh god, she just admitted to thinking about him, didn’t she? _Red Alert! Danger, Will Robinson!_ “Um, thanks. For the help.”

“Yeah, for sure.” When he didn’t immediately leave, Gert shot him a questioning look. “Are you gonna tell me your name, or should I just keep calling you 321?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Duh. I’m Gert.”

“Gert,” he said quietly, like he was testing it out, and it was really inconvenient how much she liked the way her name sounded in his voice. “Well, have a good night, Gert from 321.”

“Good night, Chase from 327,” she said with a mock salute.

Gert was still thrumming with energy for what felt like hours after he left, conducting a full post-game analysis of their conversation. She’d been awkward, but that was nothing new. It could have been worse. Maybe she should have been bold and invited him to stay, have a beer or watch a movie or something…

_Nope!_ This wasn’t a real thing – it was just a fantasy crush, like someone would have on an actor or a particularly hot tennis player. It was better that way, wasn’t it? If she actually got to know him, she would have to deal with all the messy stuff, like finding out that she didn’t really like him after all, or that he didn’t really like her.

It was better to avoid all of that. Definitely.

* * *

Her fantasy crush who Gert was one hundred percent dedicated to not getting to know any better was standing outside her apartment on Monday evening.

“Hey,” Chase said sheepishly, giving her a little wave once she was only a few feet away. “This is really dumb, but I’m kind of…locked out.”

“Oh, that sucks,” Gert said reflexively, getting all the way to her door before the part of her brain that wasn’t consistently disoriented by his presence kicked in. “Oh! You’re like…you need somewhere to wait?”

“Yeah. If that’s okay,” he added hurriedly. He seemed nervous, and Gert wondered if she was emitting a _fuck off_ vibe as a subconscious defense mechanism. “The super should be here in a little while, and I would just go for a walk or something, but it’s raining, so…”

Shit, right. It was raining and Gert probably looked like a drowned rat. She couldn’t imagine that the rain had been as kind to her as it had to Chase, who was even more frustratingly attractive with his slightly messy hair and damp shirt clinging to his chest and what was she doing again?

Oh, right. Going inside. Inside her apartment. Put the key in the lock. Super simple. “Yeah, that’s fine. Come in,” she said, and hey, that almost sounded like she wasn’t freaking out right now.

“Thanks.” Chase shot her a smile, and Gert was pretty proud at her ability to open the door, get them both inside, and set down her purse and laptop bag without any major catastrophes. “I don’t really know any of the other neighbors. I’ve only been here for, like, two months.”

“I know,” Gert replied reflexively, immediately snapping her mouth shut. _Cool answer, stalker._ “Um, I just mean I hadn’t seen you before then. Not that I really see the neighbors a lot. Or even know all of them. Uh, there’s Mrs. Calgary across the hall, her husband died a year ago so I keep her company sometimes, and Anthony lives in 326, he’s a single dad I think, there’s the two girls next door that work nights…” She took a breath, wincing internally at her own anxiety-fueled rambling. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m learning a lot.” The corner of his mouth was turned up slightly, like he was trying to hold back his amusement. “How long have you lived here?”

“Two years. It’s really close to my office and the super’s pretty nice, so…”

“Where do you work?”

“I’m a counselor. I do a lot of work with teenagers, mostly runaways or kids in foster homes.” Gert grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and streamed cold water from the fridge, mostly just to keep her hands busy so she couldn’t do anything too stupid. “What do you do?”

"I’m an engineer. I pitched some of my ideas to this automation company and they hired me. That’s why I moved down here.”

“Seriously?” He couldn’t be hot _and_ smart, that was Deeply Unfair. His eyebrow quirked and wow, Gert sounded like a jerk. “Sorry, sorry, that just wasn’t what I was expecting at all.”

“What did you expect?” The amusement was back in his voice. At least he wasn’t horribly offended.

“I don’t know…personal trainer?” She groaned, slapping a hand over her face with mock theatricality. “I’m sorry, that’s awful. I sincerely apologize for having shallow preconceived notions about you.”

“It’s okay. I’ll take it as a compliment that you think I’m in good enough shape to be a personal trainer.”

_You’re in good enough shape to be a Greek god_ , Gert thought but mercifully did not say out loud. She slid his water across the counter to him, unbuttoning her jacket and hanging it up on the hook by the door. Okay, she could do this. Chase was in her apartment. Chase Last Name TBD was in her apartment for an undetermined amount of time and she needed to…what? Keep him entertained? Make him dinner? Put some music on? This was so much pressure.

“Family?” Chase said to break her out of her inner spiral, and she must have scrunched up her face in confusion because he laughed a little and added, “I’d like to get to know you better. If that’s okay, of course.”

Her gorgeous, charming neighbor wanted to get to know her? …Why?

“Sure,” she said instead, because she was occasionally capable of not putting her foot in her mouth. “Not much. Eccentric parents. Lots of Phish. Lots of vegan food. An adopted sister. The absolute best.” She smiled at the thought of Molly. It was hard not to – her sister was basically walking sunshine. “You?”

He smiled, but it wasn’t as genuine as hers. It seemed kind of sad, actually, but that shouldn’t have been surprising. Attractive people didn’t always lead happy lives. “No siblings. I would have loved to have one, though. Always seemed like it would be fun.”

Chase stopped there, and Gert could sense a touchy subject when she heard one, so she glossed over it. “How did you get into engineering?”

By the time the super called Chase to find out where he was, they were discussing movies, and Gert couldn’t believe they’d been talking for almost an hour.

* * *

This wasn’t an intrusion. Or, if it was, Chase had already intruded into her apartment twice, so this wasn’t totally out of left field.

The smile Chase gave her in passing in the hallway was nothing compared to his blinding grin when he opened the door and saw her standing there. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Uh, I was just wondering if you had a hammer.” She tried to keep her voice casual, praying her face wasn’t completely flushed and giving her away. “I need to hang up a picture and I forgot Molly borrowed mine.”

“Oh, do you need help?”

Gert rolled her eyes teasingly. “I can hang a picture, Chase.”

“Right, sorry.” He put up his hands in mock surrender, but he was unfazed. She liked that he understood when she was joking. She always had to watch her tongue lest someone mistake her humor and get offended, but Chase never seemed to get offended by anything. “Come on in, I’m in the middle of a project so there’s probably a hammer underneath all the chaos. One sec.”

It took more than a second, but he did eventually emerge with a hammer, putting it on the table next to her instead of handing it to her. “I was just about to make some pasta if you want to stay.”

_You don’t have dinner with your fantasy crush, you watch them from afar and imagine having dinner with them, because then things can’t go wrong, and you can’t be disappointed and…_

“Yeah, I’d love to,” Gert answered a little too forcefully to shut up the voice in her head, who was clearly an idiot.

Chase was a decent cook, as it turned out, although Gert fought to keep her adoration in check considering it was only pasta. Most people could cook pasta. Still. Her pros list was getting a little long, and she didn’t have nearly enough cons to balance it yet.

His apartment looked like a single male lived there, but it was clean and smelled nice enough. There were stacks of engineering books everywhere, and a few photos of him with friends and a woman Gert assumed was his mother. She looked nice. No pictures of his father though. Gert wasn’t sure they were far enough along in their friendship to ask, so she didn’t.

That’s what this was, right? A friendship? Part of her brain kept screaming at her that this felt like a date, but that was probably wishful thinking. Chase was new to the building, and she had sort of abruptly shown up. He was being polite by asking her to stay.

“What are you thinking about?” he prompted, the amused smirk back on his face. Like he could see right through her, read her thoughts. _Thank god he can’t._

“Just wondering how far your culinary repertoire extends,” Gert answered with a smirk of her own. That wasn’t technically a lie, just one thought in a jumble of many.

“I won’t win Iron Chef any time soon, but I do okay.” Chase swallowed another bite of his penne, washing it down with a swig of water. “If I’d known you were coming over, I would have tried harder.”

There was a glint in his eye that made Gert feel warm all over, and she looked down, cursing his seemingly effortless power to fluster her. “Don’t go out of your way on my account. My dinner was probably going to be popcorn and ice cream, so this is still a step up.”

He laughed. “Really?”

“Yeah, I’m a little overdue for grocery shopping,” she admitted.

“Well, I’m glad you came over then.” His voice suddenly sounded a lot softer, even though she could still hear the smile in it. Chase wore his emotions on his sleeve, and while Gert was typically pretty uncomfortable around emotions, it was a good look on him. “You’re welcome to come over any time you need someone to cook actual food for you.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, giving him a tight smile before she gathered up her plate and glass and headed to the kitchen.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“You saved me from malnourishment, seems like the least I can do.”

Gert squeezed some soap onto the plate, scrubbing off the excess sauce with a sponge. It was the courteous thing to do, but that wasn’t why she was doing it. Her hands were shaking and she felt so jittery she might jump out of her skin. She didn’t know what to make of _you’re welcome to come over any time,_ and she definitely didn’t know what to do with the look he was giving her right now from across the counter.

She kept her attention on washing out her glass as Chase came up next to her, setting his own dishes in the sink but making no effort to wash them. “You should rinse that,” Gert said, deliberately not thinking about how close he was standing. “Tomato sauce is really hard to get off once it dries.”

“It can wait.” Chase handed her one of the kitchen towels, waiting silently as she dried her hands and laid it next to the sink. Gert made the enormous mistake of meeting his eyes, and if she ever had a chance of getting out of his apartment with her heart intact, it was gone with that look.

Achingly slowly, and all at once, his hands were on her face and his lips were on hers. Gert shifted her body to face him, her eyes falling shut entirely of their own accord.

God, she didn’t think she’d ever been kissed like this before, gentle but intense. It didn’t even seem possible this was actually happening – there was no way he was as attracted to her as she was to him.

Maybe it was a dream. A really amazing dream, where Chase was breathing unsteadily as he kissed her soft and slow, his fingers burning her skin wherever he touched her. If this was all an elaborate fantasy, then at least she could enjoy it while it lasted.

* * *

Gert woke up to the distinct sound of someone else moving around her room, feeling a tinge of panic at the thought of an intruder until her head cleared enough to realize that she was not, in fact, in her room.

She squinted at the low light filtering into the apartment. It didn’t seem like it could be later than seven, and a quick glance over at Chase’s digital clock confirmed it. But he was already up, yanking an orange sweater over his head as he rummaged through his closet for a pair of shoes. “Hey,” Gert said groggily, running her hands over her eyes. “What’s up?”

Chase blinked at her, like he’d forgotten she was there. “I have to go.”

“You have to go…where?”

“Um…” He sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. “I got a text from a friend and I have to go help them. I’m sorry, it’s pretty important.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? I don’t mind coming with you.” It was Saturday, so she didn’t have to run off to work. And she’d kind of hoped to spend the day with Chase, or at least part of it – if he was open to that.

“No, that’s okay. Thanks,” he mumbled, grabbing his wallet off the desk. He checked his pockets, seeming satisfied that he had everything he needed, and knelt on the bed, pressing a brief kiss to her forehead. “I don’t know long I’ll be gone, probably a few hours at least. We’ll talk later, okay?”

Abruptly, everything clicked into place. If she wasn’t still half asleep, she might have figured it out sooner.

She’d heard about this before. Make up some excuse to rush out, and don’t come back until the unwanted house guest gets bored and leaves. Awkward rejection conversation avoided.

He didn’t even bother to come up with a good lie. Maybe he thought he would be gone before she woke up.

Chase hadn’t seemed like that type, but they usually didn’t. It wasn’t like she really knew him. “It’s fine, just let me get dressed and I’ll go back to my place.”

He nodded, seeming anxious for her to leave. Gert threw on her clothes in record time, grateful that it was too early for anyone to see her walk of shame back to her apartment.

* * *

“Hey.”

Gert was more than a little surprised when Chase resurfaced at quarter to five. He said they would talk later, but given all the other events of the morning, she hadn’t been holding her breath.

“Hey.” She leaned her weight against the doorframe, trying her best to appear casual as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Everything okay with your friend?”

“For now, yeah. Thanks.” He paused, and Gert recognized the look of internal debate all too well. “I’m sorry for this morning. It really wasn’t what I-.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Gert interrupted sharply. Whatever excuse he was going to give her right now, she didn’t need to hear it. She’d had all day to think and she had concluded that as good as their night together was, it was purely based on attraction. It didn’t need to mean anything. As long as they could part on good terms so living in the same building wouldn’t be too awkward. “Seriously, I don’t need an explanation. It was a one-time thing. It was fun.”

There was a flicker of something on his face, but Gert didn’t let herself dwell on it. If she was right, this was exactly what he wanted. And if she wasn’t, he would need a damn good explanation for his weird behavior.

“Okay. Yeah. I’m glad we’re on the same page,” Chase said with a small shrug, taking a step back. “I’ll see you around?”

“Yep. See you around,” she repeated before shutting the door.

* * *

It was surprisingly easy to avoid Chase once she stopped timing her errands to coincide with his schedule. She’d caught a glimpse of him a few days earlier, but she was already halfway through her door when he stepped into the hallway, so they exchanged polite if awkward smiles and that was that.

Gert liked it, when they were becoming friends. She missed that. Maybe when the weirdness died down, if he was willing, they could give that a shot again.

She was just settling in for her third nap of the day – a raging cold made resting and bingeing Netflix about all she was capable of doing currently – when she heard a knock on the door. It was probably Mrs. Calgary; she’d been bringing Gert her mail and homemade cookies. Gert insisted she didn’t need to do all that, but she was a sweet woman, and very insistent that she was only repaying the favor of everything Gert had done for her.

There was no one at the door, a small mercy considering the state of Gert’s hair, face, and clothes at the moment. She bent down to pick up the paper bag that was sitting on her welcome mat, smiling at the container of what smelled like chicken soup from the Italian restaurant two blocks away. There were also some garlic knots – a complete food group, as far as Gert was concerned – and a note pinned to the inside of the bag.

_Gert,_

_One of the neighbors said you were sick. I wanted to make sure you had some food that didn’t come out of a box._

_I’m here if you need anything, okay? Just let me know._

_Chase from 327_

Gert banged her head lightly against the door. Damnit.

* * *

The cool night air felt incredible after being cooped up in her apartment for almost a week. The lounge area on the roof was one of the best parts of her building, and it was late enough – close to eleven, now – that she had the whole place to herself.

Gert pulled her blanket closer, tilting her head up to look at the stars. She was so relaxed she felt like she could fall asleep here.

“Hey.” She started a little, quickly calming down when she processed Chase’s voice. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I saw you come up and thought you might want some company.”

She was glad. After the soup gesture, she’d been thinking about extending an olive branch, or at least letting him know that she accepted his. She really had missed spending time with him. “Sure.”

Gert pulled her knees up to her chest, readjusting her blanket, and Chase took the hint and sat on the lower half of the lounge chair.

It seemed like there was something he’d wanted to say, but he just sat there quietly, leaning back on his hands to look up at the sky. Gert decided to break the silence. “Thanks for the food.”

“You’re welcome. Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” She wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on top of her knees. “Who told you I was sick?”

“The older woman that lives across from you. I noticed she had your mail and I asked if you were okay. She talked about you for twenty minutes.”

Gert chuckled, jokingly hiding her face in her lap. “Sorry. She’s very chatty.”

“It’s okay, she’s a trip. And I’m glad she told me.” Chase exhaled. “I kinda hate that I had to hear it from someone else, though.”

Things were taking a turn for the serious, and Gert didn’t know if she was ready for that quite yet. “It was just a cold. I wasn’t dying.”

“Still. I really wanted us to be friends, Gert. I’m sorry that I screwed it up.”

He wanted to be friends with her, but he didn’t want to be with her. That was okay, she guessed. There were worse outcomes of all this. “You didn’t screw it up. We can still be friends.”

“I’d like that.” Chase picked at the ugly green vinyl straps, not looking at her. “But in the spirit of an honest friendship, I think I should tell you that I lied. Before.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I kind of figured that.”

“Really?” He raised his eyebrows, looking surprised. “Huh. I thought I was pretty smooth with the whole losing my keys thing.”

“The…wait, what are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?”

Gert narrowed her eyes, studying Chase’s confused expression. She was clearly missing something, and it made her feel a little off balance. “You first.”

“I lied about losing my keys so I would have a reason to come to your apartment,” he confessed. “I wanted to talk to you, but you never really stuck around long enough for me to start a conversation, so I planned it. I just thought you seemed really…interesting. And nice. I wanted to know if I was right.”

There was a lot to unpack there. Gert wasn’t sure where to start. “Doesn’t the super charge you thirty bucks when you get locked out?”

Chase laughed. “Yeah. I gave him the money since he came down to help me. It was worth it.”

“Oh.” She bit her lip. Why would he go through all that trouble just to kick her out? There was a piece to this puzzle that still didn’t make sense, but Gert was a little more open to hearing the answer now. “I thought you meant that you lied about your friend needing help.”

“My friend…” Chase frowned, recognition dawning on his face. “Wait, is that why you were avoiding me? You thought I lied to get you to leave?”

Gert shrugged, not sure what to say.

“It wasn't like that at all.” He turned to face her, gesturing emphatically with his hand like he was trying to drag the words out. “I guess I did lie. Sort of. The text was from my mom. My dad was…he had a bad night, and she was scared and asked me to pick her up.” It all made sense, actually, in hindsight. His reluctance to talk about his family, the photos of him and his mom. Her heart broke for both of them. “I brought her back to my apartment for a while, until my dad cooled down. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to dump all of that on you so early. Honestly, I was so worried about my mom that I didn’t really think about how it all sounded. When I went to your apartment later and you said it was a one-time thing, I figured you didn’t feel the same way about it. I wanted to respect that.”

The hope that swelled up in her chest was a little dizzying. “Well, since we’re being honest,” she said after a moment, “I lied about needing a hammer. I just wanted to see you again.”

His grin was the brightest one she’d seen yet. “You did?”

“Duh,” she said, rolling her eyes playfully. “I don't even own a hammer. I hang all my pictures with Command strips.”

That sent them both into a fit of giggles. His smile made her heart beat faster, but she was less annoyed by it than usual. “Gert, I never wanted that night to be a one-time thing. I still don’t.”

“Me neither,” she admitted, reveling in the happiness that practically radiated off of him at her words. “Hey, maybe we can start with ordering some food? All I had for dinner is chips and salsa.”

He shook his head affectionately, sliding his arm around Gert’s shoulders and kissing her temple. “You’re ridiculous.”


End file.
